PC sometimes restarts (constantly) on boot - new mobo

T

tpspoons

New Member
Setup:

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3P-B3
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500k with Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
RAM: 2x Corsair CMX4GX3M2A1600C9 2gb
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 460
HDD: OCZ 60GB Vertex 2E SSD and an old Samsung 500gb HDD (sata)
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate
(Will post more if needed)

The Mobo, RAM and CPU are all brand new and I just finished setting them up last night. Everything is running fine (with a clean install of Windows 7) except that sometimes when I start my PC it goes into an endless loop of restarting at some point anywhere from before the Mobo screen appears to just before the OS starts to load. Once it manages to boot successfully though it seems to run fine with no problems.

The only way I've found so far to successfully make it boot after it starts restarting is to unplug the power for a few minutes and then try again (although this does not always work).

Things I've tested based on other solutions found online to no avail:
  • The Mobo always does the 1 beep on boot to indicate everything is running fine.
  • Tried it with one stick of RAM (tried both of them on their own).
  • I've checked the temperatures, everything seems to be fine - Screenshot of component temperature list.
  • I'm using my old PSU (500W) which I've had for around 3/4 years I think and came with my old case. I've run a power supply calculator which recommended a 500W PSU, so that I guess could be the problem since it may be under performing due to age? Then again if that is the case why doesn't it restart in windows when the components are in full load (I.E. during gaming)?
  • I've double checked to make sure the CPU is seated correctly and the cooler as well. Although I didn't put on any thermal paste, the cooler already seemed to have some on it? I bought some more paste online which should arrive on Monday so I'll put on some more just in case that is the issue.

There were a few other solutions I found which involved resetting the CMOS but I figured I'd try other stuff first before I delve that deep.

Any suggestions would be great!
 
That is probably where your problem lies - It isn't exactly a great unit to begin with, factor in the age and your system doesn't have the most stable source of power
 
Fair enough. From your experience how big a supply do you think I should go for? The recommendation was 500W but I'm guessing I should probably overshoot to around 600 or so?
 
Thanks.

Although the problem seems to have stopped now, no idea why. So I'll ignore it for now and buy a new one if it happens again.

Bizarrely, I plugged in my 2 old HDD's that were in RAID 0 on my old setup expecting to have to recover the data (they weren't working properly even on the old mobo), but instead it worked straight away (all partitions and data are present) :D

I'm kinda scared of a fortune cookie I got on Thursday just after my new setup came when I thought I lost all my data and I started having the problems I said at the start of the thread. It said something along the lines of: "You have discovered through a recent mistake that your wisdom isn't as great as you originally thought. Better things will come on Saturday" lol
 
tpspoons said:
Fair enough. From your experience how big a supply do you think I should go for? The recommendation was 500W but I'm guessing I should probably overshoot to around 600 or so?
Click to expand...

It isn't the wattage that is the issue, it is the quality.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152036

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371047

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256061

There is a reason the Raidmax unit is the same price as the other two, even though the other two have 200 less watts (apparently). The distribution of power and the quality of the Raidmax unit is awful compared to the other two.

The raidmax is rated at its peak power output, but in reality, it will never be able to sustain that. If you were to get it up to 720W load, it would end up blowing. The Antec and Silverstone unites, however, will work at 500W and not have a single problem in doing so.

The 12V rail is what you want to be looking at. Notice the Raidmax has 24A on 2 12V rails, and no you don't just add them. Even with 200W less, the Antec has 40 on a single rail, so will be outputting similar amounts of power that the Raidmax is able to, but it will be outputting much cleaner power.

When a PSU blows, it usually will also clear out other components, especially with a cheap unit like your Raidmax, because it will have little or poor protection. The components it then clears out in the process will no longer be covered by warranty, as damage due to another component failure isn't covered, so you will be out of pocket a PSU, and the full price of whatever other components are damaged, all for the sake of trying to save ~$20-30
 
100% agree with Aastii with a very nice system that you have you definitely don't want a cheap nasty power supply running the system.

Take a look at the PSU tech guide here and do yourself a favor and grab yourself a PSU off the Good power supply list
 
I ended up buying this one. It has some good reviews and for the price I couldn't find anything better. I was thinking of shelling out the extra £30 ($50) on the Antec TruePower 650W as the reviews were impeccable but since I wasn't expecting to have to buy a new one at all this is already going way above my original budget.

I literally just ordered it a few hours ago though, I could probably still cancel it if someone knows a better one for a similar price point :P
 
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Its already been dispatched.

Thanks though.

This morning it took an hour before it actually turned on (and that was after I unplugged everything except the necessities + 1hdd and 1 stick of ram) so I got the new PSU on express delivery so it should arrive tomorrow.

Oh and thanks again for all the help guys.
 
tpspoons said:
Its already been dispatched.

Thanks though.

This morning it took an hour before it actually turned on (and that was after I unplugged everything except the necessities + 1hdd and 1 stick of ram) so I got the new PSU on express delivery so it should arrive tomorrow.

Oh and thanks again for all the help guys.
Click to expand...

The PSU may not be the whole story though it should be noted. Though it could be, and more than likely is, a contributing factor to you having problems, it is not certain that it is the only issue.

When you said that your mobo, CPU + RAM are all new, what did you upgrade from and did you do a fresh install of Windows, or just set up and go?
 
OK new PSU is plugged in and functioning, but restarts are still happening :(

When you said that your mobo, CPU + RAM are all new, what did you upgrade from and did you do a fresh install of Windows, or just set up and go?
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Originally I tried it without a new install, but I had some problems so I did a clean install after that.

I'm gonna try and plug in my old GPU, since as it stands now the GPU is the only component that is over 6 months old.

Edit: Oh this was my old setup:

Mobo: GA-P35-DS3P
CPU: Intel Q6600 Quad
RAM: 4GB (Can't remember model I've given it away)
GPU: Nvidia 8800GT (have had current one since August/September)
 
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Download memtest from here:

http://www.memtest.org/download/4.20/memtest86+-4.20.iso.zip

and burn it to a disc as bootable data CD. Boot from it, and let it run for a few hours. The best way to do it is leave it running over night, because then you can still use your system in the mean time, and it lets it have a very long run. If any errors come up in that time, you can say with almost complete certainty that your memory is the cultprit.

If that comes back clean, get in contact with the supplier and say you think you have a faulty motherboard. If it is 6 months old or less, they will (or rather legally should) just replace it, provided there is no physical damage. If it is over that, then they will need to send it to Gigabyte, which can be a lengthy process, because it will need to go from the supplier, to their supplier, to Gigabyte (overseas), tested, back to the suplier's suplier, back to the suplier, back to you
 
Whats the progress at the moment hopefully its not a motherboard issue though the road is leading to that if memtest comes back free from errors. Definantly be looking at the motherboard though a GPU shouldn't cause this kind of a problem.
 
I haven't had a chance to run the test yet. I'll start running it in an hour or so and leave it over night so I'll let you know tomorrow.
 
Ran it for 9 hours with no errors. Guess that rules out the RAM?

If so I'll call for a replacement mobo tomorrow and hopefully that'll fix the problem. Although it has been happening less the last couple of days (it has restarted but its always worked on the second attempt).
 
tpspoons said:
Ran it for 9 hours with no errors. Guess that rules out the RAM?

If so I'll call for a replacement mobo tomorrow and hopefully that'll fix the problem. Although it has been happening less the last couple of days (it has restarted but its always worked on the second attempt).
Click to expand...

Yes, that does rule out the memory almost certainly. The chances of it being the memory at fault now are extremely low
 
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